This invention relates primarily to the high-speed and efficient production of wrapped conventional core yarns and to the production of novelty yarns utilizing the high-speed yarn apparatus and method disclosed.
Covered yarns are frequently used in the production of certain ladies' hosiery products designed primarily to give additional leg or body support. These garments are commonly called support garments and utilize a substantial quantity of spandex core yarns wrapped with one or more layers of relatively small denier preferably multi-filament nylon yarn.
Other wrapped yarns are used for the production of either knitted or woven fabric. A representative yarn of this type is disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 279,944 filed Aug. 11, 1972, and entitled YARN STRUCTURE AND METHOD OF MAKING SAME.
Whether conventional wrapped spandex yarns or novelty and specialty yarns such as described above are desired, the cost of production is extremely high because of the time required to wrap one or more layers of yarn about the core yarn which in many instances will be from 20 to 80 denier in size. Conventional machinery used to perform the wrapping operation normally employs a number of individual spindles each of which carries a single spool or pirn of wrapping yarn and is driven by an individual drive element. The cost of the wrapping machinery usually depends on the number of separately driven spools included in the mechanism, i.e., the greater number of individual spools, the more expensive the machine.
Since the covered yarn used for support hosiery many times requires at least two layers of wrapped yarn, it is customary to wrap the first layer in, for example, a clockwise direction and apply the second layer in the opposite or a counterclockwise direction. Thus it is necessary to drive the spindle carrying the yarn spool for the first wrapped layer in one direction and drive the spindle carrying the yarn spool for the second wrapped layer in the opposite direction.
The present invention is directed to vastly increasing the speed of the wrapping operation and thus reducing the cost of the wrapping operation and producing wrapped yarn. It is also directed to an improved manufacturing technique for novelty yarns wherein a very high-speed operation is most desirable.
The increased speed is accomplished by positioning two yarn spools on a single spindle and feeding the yarn from the lower spool through the longitudinal center of the spool and the carrying spindle to thus apply two wrapped layers of yarn in the same direction around the core yarn. This will permit doubling the capacity of conventional wrapping machines since two spools are now capable of being carried by each spindle. This results in the production of far less costly conventionally wrapped yarn and novelty and specialty yarn utilizing a cost-saving wrapping process.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide improved apparatus and procedures for efficiently, rapidly and economically producing conventional and specialty wrapped yarns.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus capable of accomplishing the above objective.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide an improved mechanism for wrapping yarn with two wrapping yarn spools for each individually driven spindle in a manner heretofore unknown in the art.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a method of yarn wrapping for conventional and novelty wrapped yarns that will increase efficiency and decrease time and costs in the production thereof.
These and other objects of the present invention will become more apparent after a consideration of the following detailed specification taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein like characters of reference designate like parts throughout the several views.